The sensitivity of Leishmania species to aminosidine.

The aminoglycoside, aminosidine exhibited ED50S of between 1 and 5 microM against the amastigotes of Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica in mouse peritoneal macrophages whereas other strains causing New World cutaneous leishmaniasis such as Leishmania braziliensis were more refractory. Aminosidine was also active against all but one of the Leishmania donovani strains tested and when combined with sodium stibogluconate, the drug showed marked potentiation against the amastigotes of L. donovani in vitro and an additive effect in experimentally infected BALB/c mice.